In the 25 years I’ve been writing about the area now known as South Shore, I’ve done a lot of stories and columns about roadway medians.
Sometimes people write me wanting to know why some medians have flowers and shrubs while others have only grass. Other times, someone wants to find out how to start a beautification campaign.
Recently, I received a letter from Darla Sargeant of Ruskin, asking “Why is it the medians in Ruskin so rarely get mowed and weeded? It looks like they do it a lot more often in the Apollo Beach area. Is there a way this can be improved?”
So I made some calls and found out.
As it turns out, Hillsborough County mows and cleans up its roadways 3.8 times a year, according to Steve Valdez in the county’s information office.
Valdez explained they get this figure by dividing the number of county roads and streets by weeks in the year. But the main roads, remember, are not county roads – they’re state roads – and are governed by the Florida Department of Transportation.
FDOT’s policy is to mow and weed roads, like State Road 674 and the area’s U.S. highways, like U.S. 41 and 301, nine times a year, according to Kristen Carson of FDOT.
If people want their areas cleaned, weeded and mowed more often, they must get an entity (like a chamber of commerce or a beautification committee) to sign an agreement with the county or state stating specifically what they will do and when and how they will do it.
This can become a sticky situation, Valdez said, especially when trees and shrubs are planted and then not kept trimmed, becoming not only an eyesore, but a traffic danger as well.
Because of potential lawsuits involved, the agreements are worded by the county and state, and the rules can become too troublesome for the average person to follow.
“A lot of people start out to do an agreement, and give up,” he said, citing attempts made by the Carrollwood Area Business Association several years ago. “They wanted their areas done, but they knew they couldn’t keep their end of such an agreement, working out there in the heat with cars whizzing by them at 80 miles an hour.”
Some areas, like Sun City Center, do have signed agreements with the county and state so they can have “extras” in their main medians, like State Road 674, but they can become very expensive to maintain. My guess is that when the developer builds out and leaves Sun City Center, the homeowners’ associations left with the entire responsibility of S.R. 674 upkeep will end up going back to grass, with the occasional pruning of the palm trees already in place. And even that will be very expensive for residents when the responsibility is no longer shared with the community’s developer, WCI Communities Inc.
So far, no group in Ruskin has signed such an agreement with the county or state, although some areas of the roadway median have been “adopted” which means certain groups have agreed to clean up trash along the roadsides. But “adopting” roads has nothing to do with using equipment like mowers and trimmers.
People who wish to see the Ruskin medians weeded and mowed more often may start a group and approach John Newton, division director of transportation maintenance for the county, located on the 22nd Floor of County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.; call him at 272-5912, or visit the South Shore Service Unit next to East Bay High School (the fenced area between the school and Interstate 75).
It would be nice if there were quick, easy answers to simple questions like these, but unfortunately, everything seems to be weighted down with rules and regulations these days.
Even picking up trash.
u Send your questions and concerns about South Shore’s roads and traffic to 3032 College Ave., Ruskin, FL 33570 or e-mail them to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with “Road Raves” in the subject line.

Or better yet, blog your comments here, in the comments section and let others know how you feel about this subject!

Penny Fletcher is editor of The Sun.